


This Isn't Me

by trascendenza



Category: DCU
Genre: Community: worlds_finest, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-11-26
Updated: 2006-11-26
Packaged: 2017-10-03 15:21:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 991
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19547
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trascendenza/pseuds/trascendenza
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kal and Bruce try to figure out what they want from each other.</p>
            </blockquote>





	This Isn't Me

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the worlds_finest contest for the prompts of "New Year's" and "first time."

"I'm not your game," Kal said, shoving the shirt down over his head and stepping into his shoes.

"I never said you were," Bruce replied, padding over to the bathroom, nude, skin prickling. He turned on the shower and stood back for a moment, letting it warm up, steam billowing around him like the admissions he would never speak, fogging the mirror.

"You say it every time we do this." Kal's voice was tired, and he didn't even say goodbye before he left. Bruce almost turned to look, but maintained, instead stepping forward, immersing his body in the cleansing heat.

*

"Then why the fuck come?" Bruce screamed, barefoot in the snow but so red hot that he didn't even feel the frost creeping into his joints.

Kal threw his hands up, the snow collecting like down on his hair and eyelashes. "You _invited_ me. What did you expect?"

"Well I sure as hell didn't think you'd come in acting like—like—"

"Like what?" Kal whispered, voice chilling as fast as the night. "Like I knew you?"

"That's not what I meant," Bruce said, sharp, but he had no force left.

He went back inside, alone, colder than the snowstorm.

*

"What are you doing here?" He said, not sounding at all like Clark Kent.

"I was hoping we could have lunch," Bruce said, curling his gloved hands into fists in his pockets.

"And then what?" Kal said, focusing with such intensity on the file in front of him that Bruce was surprised it didn't vaporize.

"Then…" He ground his teeth. "Why don't you tell me what happens then? Because I don't know what answer will make you happy."

Kal finally raised his head, eyes ablaze.

"Just leave, Bruce. And please don't come back."

*

"Dammit, Kal, you're going to talk to me," Bruce growled, throwing him up against the wall of the alley. Somehow it angered him even more to know that Kal let him.

"What do you want?" Kal asked mildly, face expressionless.

"That's what I'm here to find out. What you want from me." Bruce's fingers tightened into fists. "You have to tell me."

Suddenly, he was pinned against the opposite walls, Kal's fingers digging fierce into his shoulders. "I don't have to tell you anything," the other man hissed, his face on the verge of shattering. "Not anymore."

Then Kal's vision cleared and he backed away, looking at his hands.

"This isn't me," he whispered, horrified. He shook his head, "and this... this isn't you, Bruce. We've been at this for so long we don't even remember where we started."

Bruce let his head fall back against the brick. "I was trying to make it work. For us both."

"Maybe it's time to stop trying," Kal said, hands falling to his sides. "Maybe we've passed the point of no return."

"No." Bruce whispered, coming forward, "I've seen that point, passed it, returned. We're not there." He gently took Kal's hands. "Not yet."

*

Bruce closed his eyes as Kal cauterized the wound, letting the pain wash over him and away until he could breathe normally again and evaluate the handiwork.

"Perfect," he said, touching it gingerly.

"Here," Kal handed him the bandages, only placing a finger forward to help when Bruce requested it.

"This suit is toast," he said, running his de-gloved hand over the pits and scars caused by the caustic agent's harsh kiss. "I could, ah…" he turned from Kal, tense. "Use some help out of it. If you don't mind."

Kal placed his hands gently on Bruce's shoulders. "My pleasure."

*

The moon hung low on the horizon, swollen and tinted red by the last hush of the sun's light. It was a crescent that usually would seem foreboding, but they sat in companionable silence before it, watching lights wink on in the sky above and in the city below.

"Beautiful night," Kal whispered and Bruce nodded.

It was hard to remember what they were fighting against, what they fought about, in the face of such beauty.

"You," Kal whispered, and Bruce glanced at him, confused.

He smiled. "You asked what it was I wanted." He touched Bruce's face. "Just you."

*

"Well, what do you think, Alfred?" Bruce ran a hand through his hair, undoing all the careful work of his stylist. "Don't you think it's a bad idea?"

"Why would I think that, sir?"

"Well, because it could put him in danger, associating with me—he might be invincible physically but that's no real protection against the enemies we have."

"Don't you think that's his choice, sir?"

"That's not the point. I wanted to know what you think, Alfred."

"Actually, sir, I think that is precisely the point." He stood up to leave. "That you shouldn't care what I think."

*

Kal accepted the beer gratefully.

"So are you going to go?" Richard asked, popping the top on his bottle.

"I haven't decided. I can't figure out what his angle is."

"Maybe he doesn't have one." Richard propped his feet up on the table, pausing, considering. "Maybe it's Bruce talking and not, well…"

"It's hard to tell the difference, sometimes."

"I could say the same for you, you know."

Kal raised an eyebrow.

"Really. I mean it." Richard tilted the beer at him. "Try this. How about just Kal attends? See how you like it. I have the feeling Bruce will."

*

"And who's this delectable little friend you brought, Bruce?" Sabine simpered right into his side. Bruce extricated himself carefully, moving closer to Kal.

"Sabine, Clark Kent." He took Kal's hand, casually, like a second thought. "He's with me."

Sabine, speechless, fluttered across the room.

"Good riddance," Bruce said.

Kal watched him, wonder on his face.

"Oh, don't look so surprised, flyboy." He smiled, "There's a first time for everything."

"Apparently," Kal breathed, seizing him into a full body kiss just as the bell tolled in the new year.

As first times went, this one certainly wasn't half bad.


End file.
